Patricia Butler, the President of the Library Board of Trustees, resigned at last night’s Library Board meeting. Moving her President’s report till the end of the meeting, Mrs. Butler started her final report by saying, “I’ve really enjoyed my time with you but I have to resign.”
Mrs. Butler tried her best to maintain her usual professional composure but was clearly emotional as she read her letter of resignation:
Dear Mr. Mayor,
Please accept this letter as notice of my resignation from my position as president of the Veterans Memorial Library Board of Trustees. My last meeting as a trustee will be Wednesday, October 19th. For personal reasons, I am not able to continue on with my job responsibilities at our library. It has been such a pleasure working with the members of the board and staff [and] members of our library for the past four years. This has been a time of such significant change in our library and our services to our community and I am very proud to have been a part of it all.
My term is officially up in December of 2017.
Most of all, thank you, Mr. Mayor for always being available if I need help or to answer a question. Your continued support of our library, our staff and services, will make a significant difference for generations to come in Roselle Park.
Sincerely,
Patricia Butler
President, Library Board of Trustees
On June 15th of this year, Mrs. Butler suffered the loss of her husband of 38 years, Joseph Butler.
After reading her letter, Mrs. Butler spoke of her time on the library board. She stated, “I remember in 2013 when Joe Accardi gave me a call and said, ‘Pat, I have a job for you. You’re just retired but I think you’ll love this. The library board needs help and you are the perfect person to be on the Board.’ I thanked him. I’ve enjoyed it all. Thank you.”
After Mrs. Butler notified the board that there needed to be an election, she excused herself from the meeting and was leaving as the remaining members, as well as those in attendance, thanked Mrs. Butler for her service with a round of applause.
When the meeting continued, Dexter Delacruz was unanimously nominated and voted in as President for the remainder of the year. Catherine ‘Cass’ Roty was nominated and voted to take the role of board secretary which was vacated when Mr. Delacruz became president.
As the first order of business, the November meeting was moved from the 16th of November to the 30th to accommodate members who might not be present on the original meeting date.
The Library Board of Trustees now has one (1) available vacant seat. Anyone interested in filling that position should fill out a Citizens Service Form and contact Mayor Carl Hokanson via e-mail (link) or by calling (908) 666-7817.
A copy of the Roselle Park Citizens Service Form is available below for download: